Jottings - 8th November weather

As of Thursday we're now back into a second lockdown, but with care and planning it doesn't really affect me on a day to day basis. I had one last chat with my elderly neighbour in her garden, I've got the click and collect shopping sorted - though I still tend to accidentally buy too much - and I can still go out walking. I prefer walking at places where visitor numbers are limited by timed entry, National Trust parkland, and Chatsworth's huge garden have become my favourite places to go this year. After a slight panic-booking of a trip to Chatsworth it turned out that gardens and parks will be allowed to stay open for exercise (but not presumably for anything frivolous), so I needn't have rushed. 

I've realised these jottings seem to be acquiring a personality of their own; this week has to be about the weather. From glorious sunshine, to rain, fog and frost, with an added rainbow or two, we've had quite a range of it. 

Monday morning started with a rainbow, which seems like a good omen, and it seems to have been a good week. After an early supermarket dash, Monday was a quiet day spent at home, with a little pottering in the garden, though there's not much that needs to be done right now.

Our visit to Calke on Tuesday started in rain, but that cleared away to sunshine, with another rainbow.

On Wednesday at Chatsworth the sun shone constantly, and the garden there is perfectly situated for late afternoon sun. I'm trying to build up the distance I can comfortably walk, and this week proved that I still have some way to go. Two days out left me exhausted with aching muscles, so I need to find ways of finding more time to walk near home.

Clear evening skies mean dipping temperatures and sparkling frost next morning - the first of this autumn. 

By weekend the weather was beginning to warm up slightly with early fog, but this blackbird came along to cheer me up.

There's less fresh produce from the allotment now (though still plenty stored in various ways) but I still found enough for a salad of cabbage, red onion, apple, and chioggia beetroot. Much is said about the desirability of eating seasonally and growing our own vegetables means this is something we do without really considering it, though there'll be tomatoes and runner beans  from the freezer to bring a touch of summer throughout the winter months.

This week's new recipe was from Pinch of Nom again. A tuna pasta bake made without the usual cheese sauce, but a lighter version with low fat soft cheese and stock. I wasn't impressed, as I definitely missed the cheesiness of the familiar dish. 

It's been a week of listening to new music; first two guys that I know. Gecko released a new album last week, with a launch on Attila the Stockbroker's Facebook page, and an appearance on Life and Rhymes, a spoken word programme fronted by Benjamin Zephaniah on Sky Arts, but his song about Laika, the dog sent into space by the Russians, made me too sad to listen to the whole album in one go. Then Tim OT, a guy I first saw playing in front of a pub dartboard (very brave), decided to take up the government's call for creatives to retrain in other occupations, by re-training as 'a musician who actually releases music', so his new band Morning Crush have a single out and hopefully there'll be more from him before long. And on Friday I spotted on Twitter that a band I follow there -  Tom Lumley and the Brave Liasion - also had a new track out. I've not got as far as seeing these guys live, but one day, maybe next year (fingers crossed) I will.

I've also caught up with last week's video from North Cornwall Book Festival. This time gardener Anna Pavord talking about landscape - its influence on us, our influence on it. 

And evenings have found me glued to Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit, based on a novel by Walter Tevis about an orphaned girl who becomes a chess prodigy. I never realised the game could be so fascinating. 

So far, lockdown2 hasn't been bad. I just hope it's all over in time for Christmas.